Monthly Archives: April 2015

FEMA’s Requirement For States Include Climate Change in Mitigation Planning Could Make States Liable

This is an interesting article about the possibly liability states might face for refusing to plan for climate change. I agree with Professor Michael Gerrard and believe his comments are on point.

I also think this issue goes well beyond a refusal to plan for issues associated with climate change. As the rules stand now, if a state refuses to include climate change into their Mitigation Action Plans, then they don’t get any mitigation money. Enter the biggest question, “if a state refuses to plan for climate change and a flood wipes out a town, who’s to blame?” The likely answer is the state.

Again, this method is not something new and is a common practice in government today. States do it to local governments and the federal does it to the states. This won’t be an easy question to answer, and likely will result in the state’s being left on the hook to ensure they address climate change.

Family Wants Changes to Operating Procedures

A Firefighter’s Widow is calling upon the City of Dallas to make changes to the way things are done to help protect other firefighters, which may eventually cause changes to Emergency Operating Procedures.

Stanley Wilson, 51, died May 20, 2013, when he was crushed inside a collapsing condo during a six-alarm fire in northeast Dallas. His death prompted strife within the department, and answers were slow to come out. A 703-page draft report obtained by The Dallas Morning News reported issues with the deputy chief’s orders during the blaze, and cited a “culture of indifference” among firefighters to policies and procedures at the fire department.

Jenny Wilson has been asking for changes to be made to training and for fire-ground communications to be recorded. Though she is prevented from filing a lawsuit since her husband died in the line of duty, she is still seeking to have changes made at the city in an attempt to prevent this from happening to another family in the future.

How might this effect Emergency Management? Though the Emergency Manager isn’t directly responsible for making the changes Jenny Wilson is asking for, it is important to be aware of them. A change in the way incident response is done might very well change some of the Emergency Operating Procedures, documentation requirements during a disaster, and even the way the Emergency Operations Center functions. Also, even if this issue fades into the background, a disaster might bring it back to the forefront. This means Emergency Managers need to ensure their PIO’s are ready to deal with the issue.

FEMA to Reopen Superstorm Sandy Claims

FEMA to reopen 144,000 flood insurance claims from Superstorm Sandy.

In March, FEMA Administrator Fugate agreed to reopen and review every one of the 144,000 flood insurance claims filed by victims of Superstorm Sandy. 2,200 of these claims are currently in litigation. The agreement comes from allegations that some insurance companies had denied thousands of claims after fraudulently altering engineering reports and that other insurance companies systematically underpaid claims in fear of backlash from FEMA.

So what happens? This announcement allows claimants an alternate means for dispute resolution. Mr. Charles Mathis IV of the Merlin Law Group thinks that going it alone would be tricky for policy holders though. “While FEMA is trying to be transparent and make things right, I don’t anticipate them handing over the claim,” Mathis said. “Part of the problem is two and a half years have passed and it’s going to be very difficult to determine the extent of the damage if people have made repairs. I do think there will be some folks that will need some additional assistance going through the process.” However, FEMA has yet to announce specific details of the resolution process.

What does this mean for the legal community and policy holders? FEMA’s agreement will allow Sandy victims who are non-litigants and believe their claims were unjustly denied or received insufficient payout to reopen their cases and have access to all entering reports. FEMA also agreed to contact claimants by mail and make them aware of the new process and opportunity for review.

In addition to the reopening of cases, FEMA is required to convene a Sandy Task Force today (April 13th) to begin evaluation of the National Flood Insurance Program specifically focusing on reforms. Administrator Fugate also pledged to make senior personnel changes at the National Flood Insurance Program.

2015 DHS Grant Guidance is Released

DHS released guidance for FY 2015 grant requests. The big item on the list is that many grant programs (all but two) received an extension on the period of performance from two years to three years. This is important because it will not force agencies to spend the money immediately or risk having to send it back to the government. A much more deliberate and thoughtful process can be implemented that will do the most good in our communities.